I was born to teach

“This week I lost my job because my employer thought I was not consistent in my work. At first I was a little upset, because I'm always on time, and I complete what I can by the end of the day. I couldn't figure out what she meant by stating that I wasn't consistent in my work. After thinking about the situation, I realized that I can only complete the work assigned to the best of my ability. What she doesn't realize is that the problem started because I constantly received incomplete reports. Whoever ends up with my former job will have the same issues if that problem isn't addressed first. However, knowing that I did what I could will allow me to continue to move forward with a positive outlook for the future. .

Academic Reading task – Table completion [Note: This is an extract from an Academic Reading passage on the subject of dung beetles. The text preceding this extract gave some background facts about dung beetles, and went on to describe a decision to introduce non-native varieties to Australia.] Introducing dung1 beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats2 in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious. Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some lar...

        Answer the following questions by choosing A, B, C or D.  1.     1.  To give instruction we say…. a.      I can clean it b.      Can I join you? c.      Will you come? d.      Come in please! 1      2.      The statement I wonder if you could have dinner at my home before we see the concert expresses.... a.      an invitation b.      an instruction c.      a prohibition d.      a permission 1       3.  The statement, That would be nice, but I must pick up my sister at the airport tomorrow afternoonmeans.... a.      .The speaker refuses the invitation b.      The speaker accepts the invitation c.      The speaker states an invita...

Longtime ago when Pontianak was still thickly covered by wood, lived a man named ANANG BAYO who was not only from the wealthy family but also he was so smart and having good looking. No wonder many girls were crazy about him, but the lucky girl was INTAN LEMANG who finally married with him, for some months, they were in happiness but then INTAN LEMANG started to be annoying. She was so spoiled, what she wanted must be fulfilled. The one that really annoyed ANANG BAYO was she didn’t want to have a baby. “I don’t want it, to have big stomach for many months and to give a birth is really really hurts.“ She said. Anang was so sad and he asked his mom to persuade INTAN and succeeded. But still when the pregnancy was reaching the 7 th month, she started to complain again. One night while ANANG was sleeping well after working the whole day, INTAN felt hurt.  She screamed. “Bang, wake up. Bang, wake up… I feel very hurt!’ said Intan Lemang. “Bang, wake up Bang, you are a flying liz...

Academic Reading  task – Matching features [Note: This is an extract from an Academic Reading passage on the development of rockets. The text preceding this extract explored the slow development of the rocket and explained the principle of propulsion.] The invention of rockets is linked inextricably with the invention of 'black powder'. Most historians of technology credit the Chinese with its discovery. They base their belief on studies of Chinese writings or on the notebooks of early Europeans who settled in or made long visits to China to study its history and civilisation. It is probable that, some time in the tenth century, black powder was first compounded from its basic ingredients of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur. But this does not mean that it was immediately used to propel rockets. By the thirteenth century, powder-propelled fire arrows had become rather common. The Chinese relied on this type of technological development to produce incendiary projectiles of many...

The Power of Ritual I like bars just after they open for the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny and the bar-keep is giving himself that last look in the mirror to see if his tie is straight and his hair is smooth. I like the neat bottles on the bar back and the lovely shining glasses and the anticipation. I like to watch the man mix the first one of the evening and put it down on a crisp mat and put the folded napkin beside it. I like to taste it slowly. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar – that ’s wonderful. Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

The Risks of  Cigarette Smoke   Discovered in the early 1800s and named ‘nicotianine’, the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a small component of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence that years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions. In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of, amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent of leukemia and cervical cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important prevent...

                    Read the text below.           Long time ago a remote village, in central China, was inhabited mainly by farmers and hunters. One day, a poor farmer lost his entire livestock because of a flood. He prayed hard to God for help or his family would die of starvation.         A few days later, an old man with a long grey beard, passing by his house, took a pity on the farmer. He gave him a goose and said “ I don’t have any expensive thing to give you and hope this goose will help you to ease your hardship.” A week later to his surprise the farmer found an egg in his yard. It was not an ordinary egg. It was a golden egg. He was suddenly filled with joy.        Thereafter, his livelihood had rapidly improved but the farmer had forgotten his earlier hardship. He became lazy, arrogant and spendthrift. Strangely, the g...

        CASE STUDY           As a mature student with two children, NW did a combined Creative Writing and English degree (2 to 1 in favour of creative writing). ‘I’ve always had a strong urge to write and thought doing a degree would give me the chance to practise intensely and at the same time get feedback to find out if I was any good. I consequently became obsessed with getting a First.        ’Her family background lay in the arts and culture. ‘There were always books. I read voraciously.’ However, prior to taking the course she’d escaped an abusive relationship where she was constantly told she was stupid.              ‘I had to do A Level English to get onto the course. There was a lot of support for that. With the degree it’s more detached; not that that’s a bad thing.’             As the course progressed NW hit upon the novel she w...

Reading Passage  Adapted from ‘The Serious Search for an Anti-Aging Pill’. Copyright © 2006 Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.  No treatment on the market today has been proved to slow human aging. But one intervention, consumption of a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet, works incredibly well in a broad range of animals, increasing longevity and prolonging good health. Those findings suggest that caloric restriction could delay aging and increase longevity in humans, too. But what if someone could create a pill that mimicked the physiological effects of eating less without actually forcing people to eat less, a 'caloricrestriction mimetic'?  The best-studied candidate for a caloric-restriction mimetic, 2DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose), works by interfering with the way cells process glucose. It has proved toxic at some doses in animals and so cannot be used in humans. But it has demonstrated that chemicals can replicate t...